Adobe Illustrator is a graphic editor designed to create vector images. With it, they draw illustrations, make diagrams, logos, graphics and much more. And although this program at first glance seems complicated, having studied the basics, you will understand how easy and pleasant it is to work with it.
Getting started in the program
You can draw in Adobe Illustrator using both a graphics tablet and the mouse. There is also a version of this program for iPad and iPhone.
Instructions for beginners how to draw in Illustrator:
- First you need to download and install the program. It is best to use a licensed version.
- Launch Illustrator and create a new file (Ctrl + N). In the pop-up window, specify its size, color mode and orientation.
- Before drawing in Illustrator, examine the toolbar. For example, to create a rectangle, select the Rectangle tool (M), hold down the left key and drag in the desired direction. Other shapes are created by the same principle.
- To draw lines in Illustrator, use the Pen tools (P), Pencil (N), or Brush (B). With a pencil and a brush, you can create a figure of any shape, and use a pen to draw a figure by points.
- You can edit the drawn object with the Direct Selection Tool (A). To do this, select the desired point and drag it to another location.
- If you select the Pen tool or the Pen + tool, you can delete or add points.
- To paint over a drawn shape, select it, select "Fill" on the toolbar and select the desired color. You can color the shape contour using the Stroke function.
- The image is saved in EPS, PDF and AI formats. To do this, select "File" - "Save As" (Shift + Ctrl + S). You can save the image in other formats (BMP, JPEG, PNG) using the “Export” function.
Working with tools in Adobe Illustrator
When the program starts, by default the toolbar is on the left of the screen. If desired, it can be moved to any other place convenient for you.
On the image you can see all the tools available in Illustrator.
If there is a small triangle below the tool icon, then you can expand it and open access to additional tools. You can also adjust the parameters of some tools. To open the context menu for tool settings, double-click on it in the panel.
About brushes
Brushes allow you to apply a variety of styles to the lines. They can be applied to already drawn lines or drawn with a brush in the "Illustrator" contour with a specific style.
There are five types of brushes in Adobe Illustrator:
- Calligraphic - imitate the lines created by a calligraphy pen. The brushstroke drawn with the help of a “blot brush” is automatically converted to a filled object.
- Bristle brush - Creates lines that look like brush strokes made from bristles.
- Discrete - are copies of an object distributed along a line.
- Object - evenly stretch the shape of the object along the line.
- Patterned - consist of repeating along the line of individual objects. They differ from discrete ones in that they precisely follow the contour.
The Brushes Palette
To open the Brushes panel, select Window - Brushes, or press the F5 key. Here are the brushes selected for the current image. To add brushes to the palette, you can use a special library of brushes. The brushes you created and saved are only associated with the current document. Therefore, for each document, you can create different sets of brushes.
How to draw with a brush in Illustrator
The brush tool can be applied to lines created by other tools, such as the Pen or Pencil. To do this, select the path you are interested in, select the desired brush from the palette and drag it onto the path. If a brush has already been applied to the path, then it will be replaced with a new one.
How to draw in Adobe Illustrator with a brush? First, select a brush from the library or palette and click on the Brush tool. Then move the cursor to the place where you want to start drawing a line and, holding the left mouse button, drag it to create a path. If you draw in Illustrator on a tablet, simply draw a line with the stylus on the screen of the graphic tablet.
By releasing the mouse button or tearing the stylus off the screen, you will draw an open outline. To create a closed path, hold Alt while drawing and release the left mouse button when you want to close the drawn shape.
How to draw straight lines with the pen in Illustrator
The simplest contour created by the Pen tool is a straight line consisting of two points. You can create it with two clicks of the pen. After making a few more clicks with this tool, you can draw a figure consisting of straight lines. So how to draw in Illustrator with a pen?
First you need to select the Pen tool in the panel. Then place the cursor in the place from which the segment will begin, and press the left mouse button. The first reference point is created.
Move the cursor (without holding the mouse button) to the end of the line and put another point. If you hold Shift, the lines will be limited by an angle that is a multiple of 45 °.
Continue creating control points to get the right number of lines. The point that you add last will be highlighted and look like a filled square. Unselected dots look like empty squares.
To close the contour, place the cursor on the first point made and left-click on it. If you do not want to close the contour, press the Ctrl key, and then to an empty place, away from the drawn figure.
Pen Drawing Curved Lines
To draw a curved line with a pen, place the cursor on the workspace and hold down the left mouse button. You put the first anchor point and an arrow appears at the cursor location. Drag the tool pointer until you get the desired bend. If you hold Shift, the tool will move at an angle multiple of 45 °.
Move the cursor to the end of the future line and drag the arrow in the opposite direction to that made at the first point. So you get a bend in the shape of the letter C. To get a bend in the form of S, drag the arrow in the same direction as at the previous point.
You can complete work with bending in the same ways as when working with straight lines. Press the Ctrl key and click on an empty spot on the workspace to get an open loop, or click on the first point made to get a closed loop.
How to draw in Illustrator using outline
This method is suitable for those who are just starting to master the program. For him, you need some kind of digital drawing. You can make it yourself or find a picture from the Internet.
Instruction:
- Run the program and create a new file.
- In the window that appears, specify the size of the workspace. In the advanced settings, select the RGB color mode, and in “Raster effects” - “Screen (72ppi)”. If you plan to create a picture for printing, then put CMYK in color mode and change the “Raster effects” to “High (300 ppi)”.
- Open your picture in Illustrator (Ctrl + O).
- If the image does not match the size of the artboard, select the Selection tool in the panel and align the image by pulling the edge. To prevent the image from being distorted during the transformation process, hold down the Shift key.
- Moving the picture into the program, you should change its transparency. To do this, find the "Transparency" button on the right panel (Shift + Ctrl + F10) and set the layer opacity to 30-50%.
- Press F7 so that the layers become visible on the right of the screen and fix the picture by clicking on an empty place next to the eye icon. A lock should appear that will not allow you to shift or change the original image during operation. If desired, this lock can always be removed.
- Create a new layer and select the Pen tool and the stroke color.
- Circle all image elements with this tool. Make sure that the control points of all elements are in contact and do not forget to draw bends where they are needed. Also, all lines in the image should create closed shapes.
Having finished outlining the largest elements of the image, you can begin to paint over them and finish fine details. Here's how to do it:
- Select the Shaper tool (Shift + N) in the panel.
- Adjust the fill and outline color on the top panel or on the right of the screen in the Color tab. Also on the top panel you can select the thickness and shape of the stroke. If you want the outline not to be visible, then when choosing a color for it, select “No color” (the icon looks like a white square crossed out by a red line).
- After painting the shapes, change their opacity to a value convenient for you and create another layer to add details.
- It’s best to draw some small elements with the Brush tool, because it can be used to adjust the shape of the line. You can also draw all the lines with a pen and apply the brush only to some details.
- After finishing the stroke, remove the lock from the original image and delete it.
You can draw a portrait in Illustrator according to the same principle, you just need to choose a suitable source photo.
Draw paw prints
First turn on the “Quick” guides (Ctrl + U) - this will facilitate your work. Now we begin to draw prints in Illustrator. To do this, select the Ellipse tool and click on any place on the canvas. You will see the tool menu. Enter the values of height and width 50 to create an even circle, and click "OK". Note that a black fill will be used for all shapes.
Create two more 30 x 30 pixel circles and move them under the first circle. Then select all three circles (Ctrl + A), find the Pathfinder tool (Shift + Ctrl + F9) on the right panel and select the “Connect” function.
Use the Pen tool to remove some unnecessary points. After that, we again return to the Ellipse tool, click on the canvas and create an ellipse 30 by 40 pixels. We make three more copies of this figure. Using the Selection tool, move the ellipses as shown in the picture.
Using the Free Transform tool, rotate the two left ellipses another 15 °, and the two right ellipses -15 °. Select all the objects (Ctrl + A) and group them (Ctrl + G).
If you want to reduce the size of the paw by half, go to the "Object" - "Transform" - "Scaling" and enter the number 50 in the first cell.
Make another copy of the paw and place it above and to the right. Using Free Transform, slightly rotate one track to the left and the other to the right.
Create a brush from prints
Before you start creating a brush, the paw prints need to be rotated. Therefore, first we select both paws and group them. Then, without canceling the selection, go to "Object" - "Transform" - "Rotate" and enter a value of -90 degrees to rotate the prints clockwise.
Go to the Brushes panel and click New Brush. In the menu that appears, select "Discrete Brush" and confirm the action. In the next window, set up the brush. The size must be left at 100%, set the intervals at 90%, leave the spread and rotation at 0. Select the rotation relative to the contour and click “OK”. Now with this brush you can draw footprints.
Advice
To make working with Adobe Illustrator easier, there are a few useful tips and tricks:
- Remember the key combinations. This will help simplify and speed up your work with the program. It is not necessary to remember all the "hot keys", it is enough to study those that you use most often.
- Master the features of copying in the program. In addition to the standard “Copy / Paste”, in “Illustrator” there is a function to place the copied object on top (Ctrl + F) or below (Ctrl + B) of the previous one.
- Turn on Quick Guides (Ctrl + U). Thanks to this function, your paths, control points and the center of objects will be highlighted.
- To turn several objects into a single whole, group them. To do this, open the “Object” menu - “Group” or press “Ctrl + U”.
- You can also create other shapes from the Star shape by dragging and dropping anchor points. For example, a star can make a triangle.